New Testament Exam 1

Only in the Christian religion

The New Testament is accepted as scripture in what religion?

• Letters

• Gospels

• A Book of Acts

• an Apocalypse

The New Testament includes what four types of literature?

• Is concerned with the past

• is non-theological

• has no theory if inspiration

• questions the new testament

The historical-critical method differs from the confessional approach in what four ways?

Roman Empire

During the lifetime of Jesus and the rise of Christianity, Palestine was under the control of what empire?

by the Jordan, North, West

Where was Galilee located geographically? That is, was it in the north or the south of Palestine? Was it to the west or the east of the Jordan River? Consult Map 2: Palestine in the Time of Jesus.

Greek

In the first century, what language was the most commonly used language of the entire Greco-Roman world?

Elohim and YHWH

What two main designations do the Jewish Scriptures use to refer to the god of Israel?

To Circumcise male children, not to work on the sabbath day, to observe ritual purity, and not to eat unclean animals

What are four of the more noteworthy commandments of the Jewish Law?

• the part of the sacrifice that was burned and turned into smoke went to feed the god

• by eating part of the meal (while burning the rest) they could share a meal with the god

• that feeding the god made it favorable to them

• if the god was angry the sacrifice would propitiate or appease the wrath of the god

What four beliefs about sacrifice did the Jewish people share with other ancient peoples?

• only males children were circumcised

• at the synagogues only Jewish boys were taught the Torah

• at the synagogues only Jewish men recited the standard prayers

• at the Jewish court for men was closer to the temple building than the court for women

• the Jewish Law made provision for a husband to divorce his wife but not for a wife to divorce her husband

In what five respects was the role of Jewish women secondary to that of Jewish men in Second-Temple Judaism?

• Pharisees: followed written Law in the Torah but also the “tradition of the elders” (oral tradition); didn’t associate with “sinners” and bathed if come into contact with them (“hypocrites”)

• Sadducees: differed in their practice of the Law, (they observed the written traditions but not the tradition of the elder’s) they did not believe in the existence of angles or other spirits

• Essenes: not mentioned in the New Testament, 2 divisions- families and celibate men- surrendered possessions to the community and shared property (common resources), avoided swearing oaths (they thought their word should be believed without an oath)

What three different views about life after death were held by the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Sadducees, respectively?

the storm cloud

The concept of the Judeo-Christian god Yahveh was based on a pre-scientific misunderstanding of what natural phenomenon?

gods (most people) or angels (Jews)

The Jews and other people in the ancient world regarded the stars as what types of living beings?

• the human spirit or soul

• spirits of the dead or ghosts

• the spirit of Yahveh

• evil spirits

In the ancient world, a pre-scientific misunderstanding of breath led to belief in what four types of spirits?

a demigod (half-god)

In the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke, Jesus is presented as which type of divine mortal?

the incarnation of a preexistent divine being

When the Gospel of John refers to Jesus as the Logos who became flesh, it identifies him as which type of divine mortal?

a deified mortal

When Mark, Matthew, and Luke depict Jesus as ascending into the sky, people in the Greco-Roman world would understand that he had become which type of divine mortal?

before his birth, at his birth, at his baptism, and at his resurrection (all from different writings)

At what different points of time in his career did Jesus become the son of God according to the different writings in the New Testament?

nature miracles, healings, exorcisms, miracles of knowledge

What four types of miracle stories occur in Jewish, Greco-Roman, and early Christian tradition?

• prophets

• holy men

• professional exorcists

• divine mortals (Greco-Roman)

• Jesus, and Christian charismatics- followers of Jesus (in Christian tradition)

In the ancient world, miracles were attributed to what five types of miracle workers?

puts Jesus in the same class as some particular type of miracle worker

What is the significance of a miracle story about Jesus?

• rationalist explanation

• mythological explanation

What are two related implications of the principle of analogy in historical criticism?

• historian assumes the event in the story actually happened but had a natural explanation

• Jesus feeding the 5,000 — he actually fed them with the little food they had and the crowd brought theirs until everyone was fed

What is a rationalist explanation of a miracle story? Use a rationalist explanation to explain one of the miracle stories in the New Testament.

• the historian assumes that the event in the story never happened (and made up by people who admired the alleged miracle worker)

• Jesus walking on water — someone in the Christian community made this story up in order to portray Jesus like Moses but superior to him

What is a mythological explanation of a miracle story? Use a mythological explanation to explain one of the miracle stories in the New Testament.

they functioned as a form of false advertising (main purpose was to show the superiority of one brand of religion of philosophy over competing brands)

What was the function of miracle stories in the ancient world?

• descendant of King David

• adopted as the son of Yahveh

• anointed as a king

• endowed with the spirit of Yahveh

A candidate for the role of Davidic Messiah had to meet what four basic qualifications?

John the Baptist

• Elijah the prophet

Jesus

• Davidic Messiah or Christ

• the prophet like Moses

• Son of Man

• the Lord

Early Christians identified John the Baptist with which agent of deliverance in the Jewish Scriptures? They identified Jesus with which four other agents of deliverance?

• Jesus was killed to fulfill scriptures

• he was raised from the dead

• he ascended into the sky as the Son of Man to receive an everlasting kingdom from God

• He was seated at the right hand of Yahveh and given the name “Lord”

• he would return soon on the day of the Lord

The new Christian conception of the Messiah included what five main claims?

• they followed a procedure in which they interpreted the scripture as a prophetic reference to their own time and situation

• they paid no attention to the original meaning of the scripture or its original historical context

In creating their new conception of the Messiah from scripture, the early Jewish disciples of Jesus followed a procedure in which they did what? They paid no attention to what?

implies that Jesus had to ascend to the sky to receive an everlasting kingdom from Yahveh before he could reign as Messiah

In the gospels, when Jesus refers to himself as “the Son of Man,” this expression implies what?

originally referred to Yahveh on the day of Yahveh

When Mark says that at the return of Jesus the sun and moon would be darkened and the stars would fall from the sky, he applies to Jesus passages in the Jewish Scriptures that originally applied to which agent of deliverance?

very soon, in their own lifetime

The earliest followers of Jesus believed that Jesus would return from the sky when?

• Jesus was killed by the Romans

• the Jewish people did not accept Jesus as their king

• Jesus did not return.

What were the three great disappointments of early Christianity?

he had responded to the second great disappointment

When Paul created the theory that God had hardened the hearts of the Jews so that they would not believe, he was responding to which great disappointment of early Christianity?

believed in the new Christian conception of the Messiah

What was the main difference between Judaic Christians and other Jews?

• Paul taught that Jesus was the incarnation of a preexistent divine beings, he was a god that became man, he came from the sky born “in the likeness of men”, died on the cross, ascended, and exalted above all — Judaic Christians believed that Jesus was a human being or demigod who was deified at the end of his life

• Paul taught that Jesus died for out sins — Judaic Christians didn’t regard the death as a saving event

• Paul taught that Jewish Law wasn’t valid anymore — Judaic Christians continued to follow the Jewish Law

Pauline Christianity differed from Judaic Christianity in what three main respects?

Proto-Orthodox Christianity

What form of Christianity was responsible for the canon of the New Testament that we have today?

• writings with an apostolic origin were more likely to be accepted than those that did not (writings from apostles or associates)

• the content had to be “orthodox” & conform to “the rule of faith”

• the extent of its use (more universally accepted)

What three criteria were especially important in determining whether or not a writing was accepted into the canon?

• Nero was the first

• Constantine (and Licinius) ended the persecution

Which emperor began the Roman persecution of Christians? Which emperor put an end to it?

• the message that Jesus preached

• the message that early Christians preached about Jesus

• a type of literature: a writing concerning Jesus

What three different senses did the term “gospel” have in early Christianity?

• they have a thoroughly theological perspective

• they exhibit a pre-scientific worldview

• they do not distinguish between history and legend

• their purpose is to promote religious belief and behavior

Works of sacred historical fiction, such as the canonical gospels, differ from modern historical accounts in what four respects?

• miracle story — feeding of 5,000

• pronouncement story — Jesus pronouncing about an issue (Mark 10:13-14)

• scholastic dialogue — Jesus’s students ask him a question he answers it

• parable — mustard seed

• retrojected (projected back) — Matt 18:15-17

What are five of the most common types of traditions in the gospels? Identify one example of each type

• created stories about Jesus that did not actually occur

• attributed sayings to him that he did not actually speak

• they retrojected (projected back) into the life of Jesus concerns that they had in their own day

In order to address the needs and concerns of the churches where they preached and taught, early Christian ministers engaged in what three deceptive practices?

Matthew, Mark, and Luke

Which three gospels in the New Testament are called the Synoptic Gospels?

Mark was the first gospel

According to the two-document hypothesis, which Synoptic gospel was used as a source for the other two?

• they decided what material to include

• they decided in what order to put the material

• they connected the originally independent units of tradition with editorial comments

• they redacted or revised the wording of the material that they inherited

The evangelists who composed the gospels edited the material that they inherited in what four ways?